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After 50 years, letters keep friendship among nurses alive

11 nurses from the Class of 1967 have kept their friendships alive through letters

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Updated: 8:46 AM EDT May 13, 2017

After 50 years, letters keep friendship among nurses alive

11 nurses from the Class of 1967 have kept their friendships alive through letters

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Updated: 8:46 AM EDT May 13, 2017

After 50 years, letters keep friendship among nurses alive

11 nurses from the Class of 1967 have kept their friendships alive through letters

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Updated: 8:46 AM EDT May 13, 2017

There were hugs that seemed like an eternity at the alumni banquet for the Iowa Lutheran School of Nursing on Friday night as a group of graduates made sure to keep memories – and friendships – alive.

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All were on display when the nurses reunited for their 50-year reunion. Between 1914 and 1978, more than 1,800 RNs graduated from the school, and the bond the women share is evident in the letters 11 women from the Class of 1967 have shared in the past half-century.

“We started what we called the Round Robin,” said Carol Dickey, of Urbandale. “We took out our old letter, put a new one in and sent it on.”

It’s like a chain letter that is constantly circulating. The 11 letters usually take at least six months to make their way around the group.

“I think almost universally, when we get the letter, we just immediately drop everything and we have to open it up.”

The 11 women share the best and the worst moments, from grandchildren, children, career choices, successes, frustrations to sorrows, joys and memories of school.

They’re well aware of modern-day technology with amenities like the internet and cellphones, and they understand this is not how people typically communicate in the 21st century.

“Somebody brought up the idea of doing email and it was voted down,” Dickey laughed.

“There’s something about sitting and holding a letter that is different than being on a computer,” Phyllis Nibbelink, who now lives in Minnesota, said.

“That’s the joy of getting a letter; it’s not a bill or a solicitation for a credit card,” said Sandra Marshall, who now lives in Connecticut. “It’s a joy to find a letter. It’s a lost art form.”

It makes you wonder if we lose something in our world of digital messages we click to send.

“It’s just like we’ve continued knowing each other all these years,” said Marilyn Moe, of Cedar Rapids.

The women said one reason they may have developed such a tight bond is that Iowa Lutheran Hospital’s nursing school was a three-year program with no summer breaks, so they spent 36 straight months together.